英语六级阅读专项王长喜六级考试标准的阅读10

　　第三十七篇

　　Scattered through the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton. Most of these plants and animals are too small for the human eye to see. They drift about lazily with the currents， providing a basic food for many larger animals.

　　Plankton has been described as the equivalent of the grasses that grow on the dry land continents， and the comparison is an appropriate one. In potential food value however， plankton far outweighs that of the land grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates each year. The seas plankton generates more than twice as much.

　　Despite its enormous food potential， little effort was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land. Now marine scientists have at last begun to study this possibility， especially as the seas resources loom even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population.

　　No one yet has seriously suggested that planktonburgers may soon become popular around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary food source， however， plankton is gaining considerable interest among marine scientists.

　　One type of plankton that seems to have great harvest possibilities is a tiny shrimplike creature called krill. Growing to two or three inches long， krill provide the major food for the giant blue whale， the largest animal ever to inhabit the Earth. Realizing that this whale may grow 100 feet and weigh 150 tons at maturity， it is not surprising that each one devours more than one ton of krill daily.

　　Krill swim about just below the surface in huge schools sometimes miles wide， mainly in the cold Antarctic. Because of their pink color， they often appear as a solid reddish mass when viewed from a ship or from the air. Krill are very high in food value. A pound of these crustaceans contains about 460 caloriesabout the same as shrimp or lobster， to which they are related.

　　If the krill can feed such huge creatures as whales， many scientists reason， they must certainly be contenders as new food source for humans.

　　1.Which of the following best portrays the organization of the passage?

　　A.The author presents the advantages and disadvantages of plankton as a food source.

　　B.The author quotes public opinion to support the argument for farming plankton.

　　C.The author classifies the different food sources according to amount of carbohydrate.

　　D.The author makes a general statement about plankton as a food source and then moves to a specific example.

　　2.According to the passage， why is plankton regarded to be more valuable than land grasses?

　　A.It is easier to cultivate.

　　B.It produces more carbohydrates.

　　C.It does not require soil.

　　D.It is more palatable.

　　3.Why does the author mention planktonburgers?

　　A.To describe the appearance of one type of plankton.

　　B.To illustrate how much plankton a whale consumes.

　　C.To suggest plankton as a possible food sources.

　　D.To compare the food values of beef and plankton.

　　4.What is mentioned as one conspicuous feature of krill?

　　A.They are the smallest marine animals.

　　B.They are pink in color.

　　C.They are similar in size to lobsters.

　　D.They have grass like bodies.

　　5.The author mentions all of the following as reasons why plankton could be considered a human food source except that it is ___.

　　A.high in food value.

　　B.in abundant supply in the oceans.

　　C.an appropriate food for other animals.

　　D.free of chemicals and pollutants.

　　答案：DBCBD

　　1

　　第三十八篇

　　In the last 12 years total employment in the United States grew faster than at any time in the peacetime history of any country from 82 to 110 million between 1973 and 1985 that is， by a full one third. The entire growth， however， was in manufacturing， and especially in no blue-collar jobs

　　This trend is the same in all developed countries， and is， indeed， even more pronounced in Japan. It is therefore highly probable that in 25 years developed countries such as the United States and Japan will employ no larger a proportion of the labor force I n manufacturing than developed countries now employ in farming at most， 10 percent. Today the United States employs around 18 million people in blue-collar jobs in manufacturing industries. By 2010， the number is likely to be no more than 12 million. In some major industries the drop will be even sharper. It is quite unrealistic， for instance， to expect that the American automobile industry will employ more than one third of its present blue-collar force 25 years hence， even though production might be 50 percent higher.

　　If a company， an industry or a country does not in the next quarter century sharply increase manufacturing production and at the same time sharply reduce the blue-collar work force， it cannot hope to remain competitive or even to remain developed. The attempt to preserve such blue collar jobs is actually a prescription for unemployment

　　This is not a conclusion that American politicians， labor leaders or indeed the general public can easily understand or accept. What confuses the issue even more it that the United States is experiencing several separate and different shifts in the manufacturing economy. One is the acceleration of the substitution of knowledge and capital for manual labor. Where we spoke of mechanization a few decades ago， we now speak of robotization or automation. This is actually more a change in terminology than a change in reality. When Henry Ford introduced the assembly line in 1909， he cut the number of man hours required to produce a motor car by some 80 percent in two or three years far more than anyone expects to result from even the most complete robotization. But there is no doubt that we are facing a new， sharp acceleration in the replacement of manual workers by machines that is， by the products of knowledge.

　　1.According to the author， the shrinkage in the manufacturing labor force demonstrates______.

　　A.the degree to which a countrys production is robotized

　　B.a reduction in a countrys manufacturing industries

　　C.a worsening relationship between labor and management

　　D.the difference between a developed country and a developing country

　　2.According to the author， in coming 25years， a developed country or industry， in order t remain competitive， ought to ______.

　　A.reduce the percentage of the blue-collar work force

　　B.preserve blue collar jobs for international competition

　　C.accelerate motor can manufacturing in Henry Fords style

　　D.solve the problem of unemployment

　　3.American politicians and labor leaders tend to dislike_____.

　　A.confusion in manufacturing economy

　　B.an increase in blue collar work force

　　C.internal competition in manufacturing production

　　D.a drop in the blue collar job opportunities

　　4.The word prescription in a prescription for unemployment may be the equivalent to ______

　　A.something recommended as medical treatment

　　B.a way suggested to overcome some difficulty

　　C.some measures taken in advance

　　D.a device to dire

　　5.This passage may have been excepted from ________

　　A.a magazine about capital investment

　　B.an article on automation

　　C.a motor-car magazine

　　D.an article on global economy

　　答案：AADCD

　　2

　　第三十九篇

　　What does the future hold for the problem of housing? A good deal depends， of course， on the meaning of future。 If one is thinking in terms of science fiction and the space age， it is at least possible to assume that man will have solved such trivial and earthly problems as housing. Writers of science fiction， from H.G. Wells onwards， have had little to say on the subject. They have conveyed the suggestion that men will live in great comfort， with every conceivable apparatus to make life smooth， healthy and easy， if not happy. But they have not said what his house will be made of. Perhaps some new building material， as yet unimagined， will have been discovered or invented at least. One may be certain that bricks and mortar(泥灰，灰浆) will long have gone out of fashion.

　　But the problems of the next generation or two can more readily be imagined. Scientists have already pointed out that unless something is done either to restrict the worlds rapid growth in population or to discover and develop new sources of food (or both)， millions of people will be dying of starvation or at the best suffering from underfeeding before this century is out. But nobody has yet worked out any plan for housing these growing populations. Admittedly the worst situations will occur in the hottest parts of the world， where housing can be light structure or in backward areas where standards are traditionally low. But even the minimum shelter requires materials of some kind and in the teeming， bulging towns the low-standard housing of flattened petrol cans and dirty canvas is far more wasteful of ground space than can be tolerated.

　　Since the war， Hong Kong has suffered the kind of crisis which is likely to arise in many other places during the next generation. Literally millions of refugees arrived to swell the already growing population and emergency steps had to be taken rapidly to prevent squalor(肮脏)and disease and the spread crime. The city is tackling the situation energetically and enormous blocks of tenements(贫民住宅)are rising at an astonishing aped. But Hong Kong is only one small part of what will certainly become a vast problem and not merely a housing problem， because when population grows at this rate there are accompanying problems of education， transport， hospital services， drainage， water supply and so on. Not every area may give the same resources as Hong Kong to draw upon and the search for quicker and cheaper methods of construction must never cease.

　　1.What is the authors opinion of housing problems in the first paragraph?

　　A.They may be completely solved at sometime in the future.

　　B.They are unimportant and easily dealt with.

　　C.They will not be solved until a new building material has been discovered.

　　D.They have been dealt with in specific detail in books describing the future.

　　2.The writer is sure that in the distant future ___.

　　A.bricks and mortar will be replaced by some other building material.

　　B.a new building material will have been invented.

　　C.bricks and mortar will not be used by people who want their house to be fashionable.

　　D.a new way of using bricks and mortar will have been discovered.

　　3.The writer believes that the biggest problem likely to confront the world before the end of the century ___.

　　A.is difficult to foresee.

　　B.will be how to feed the ever growing population.

　　C.will be how to provide enough houses in the hottest parts of the world.

　　D.is the question of finding enough ground space.

　　4.When the writer says that the worst situations will occur in the hottest parts of the world or in backward areas， he is referring to the fact that in these parts ___.

　　A.standards of building are low.

　　B.only minimum shelter will be possible.

　　C.there is not enough ground space.

　　D.the population growth will be the greatest.

　　5.Which of the following sentences best summarizes Paragraph 3?

　　A.Hong Kong has faced a serious crisis caused by millions of refugees.

　　B.Hong Kong has successfully dealt with the emergency caused by millions of refugees.

　　C.Hong Kongs crisis was not only a matter of housing but included a number of other problems of population growth.

　　D.Many parts of the world may have to face the kind of problems encountered by Hong Kong and may find it much harder to deal with them.

　　答案：AABDD

　　3

　　第四十篇

　　It is a curious paradox that we think of the physical sciences as hard， the social sciences as soft， and the biological sciences as somewhere in between. This is interpreted to mean that our knowledge of physical system is more certain than our knowledge of biological systems， and these in turn are more certain than our knowledge of social systems. In terms of our capacity of sample the relevant universes， however， and the probability that our images of these universes are at least approximately correct， one suspects that a reverse order is more reasonable. We are able to sample earths social systems with some degree of confidence that we have a reasonable sample of the total universe being investigated. Our knowledge of social systems， therefore， while it is in many ways extremely inaccurate， is not likely to be seriously overturned by new discoveries. Even the folk knowledge in social systems on which ordinary life is based in earning， spending， organizing， marrying， taking part in political activities， fighting and so on， is not very dissimilar from the more sophisticated images of the social system derived form the social sciences， even though it is built upon the very imperfect samples of personal experience.

　　In contrast， our image of the astronomical universe， or even if earths geological history， ca easily be subject to revolutionary changes as new data come in and new theories are worked out. If we define the security of our image of various parts of the total system as the probability of their suffering significant changes， then we would reverse the order for hardness and as the most secure， the physical sciences as the least secure， and again the biological sciences as somewhere in between. Our image of the astronomical universe is the least secure of all simply because we observe such a fantastically small sample of it and its record-keeping is trivial records of biological systems. Records of the astronomical universe， despite the fact that we learnt things as they were long age， are limited in the extreme.

　　Even in regard to such a close neighbor as the moon， which we have actually visited， theories about its origin and history are extremely different， contradictory， and hard to choose among. Our knowledge of physical evolution is incomplete and insecure.

　　1.The word paradox (Line 1， Para. 1) means _____。

　　A.implication B.contradiction

　　C.interpretation D.confusion

　　2.Accroding to the author， we should reverse our classification of the physical sciences as hard and the social sciences as soft because _______.

　　A.a reverse ordering will help promote the development of the physical sciences

　　B.our knowledge of physical systems is more reliable than that of social systems

　　C.our understanding of the social systems is approximately correct

　　D.we are better able to investigate social phenomena than physical phenomena

　　3.The author believes that our knowledge of social systems is more secure than that of physical systems because______.

　　A.it is not based on personal experience

　　B.new discoveries are less likely to occur in social sciences

　　C.it is based on a fairly representative quantity of data

　　D.the records of social systems are more reliable

　　4.The chances of the physical sciences being subject to great changes are the biggest because _____.

　　A.contradictory theories keep emerging all the time

　　B.new information is constantly coming in

　　C.the direction of their development is difficult to predict

　　D.our knowledge of the physical world is inaccurate

　　5.We know less about the astronomical universe than we don about any social system because ______.

　　A.theories of its origin and history are varied

　　B.our knowledge of it is highly insecure

　　C.only a very small sample of it has been observed

　　D.few scientists are involved in the study of astronomy

　　答案：ACDAD